2006 Ferentari Riot
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A small riot took place in Ferentari–Zăbrăuți area of
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
,
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
on the evening of November 14, 2006. Ferentari is Bucharest's poorest district, with a bad reputation with respect to crime.


Events preceding the riot

The riot took place after four
Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...
children were asphyxiated in the basement of an apartment block in the Zăbrăuți area on November 13, as a result of a fire caused by candles. The children had lived with their mother in their dwelling for more than two years, and were obliged to light the basement with candles as they had no access to electricity. According to the administrator of the apartment block, none of the building's inhabitants had formal access to electricity for four years, with many people connecting themselves illegally to the electricity grid.


The riot

The riot occurred because
Electrica Electrica is a public company, listed on the Bucharest and London stock exchanges. Electrica is the only listed Romanian company in the field of electricity distribution and supply in Romania. Electrica Group is a key player in the electricity dis ...
, the electricity provider company, decided to cut the electricity in some blocks, due to energy theft and consumer debts. However, power outages occurred for several blocks, including few consumers without debts. In most flats, there was no central heating, and people were using electric radiators, which are costly to operate. There were also some apartments with
air conditioners Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...
, so the total debts (not including the stolen energy) rose to €400,000.Gardianu
Violența este o metodă de negociere mai eficientă decât diplomația"
The stolen energy was estimated at €430,000 per month.
Dzeno.cz
According to the protesters, the local council of Sector 5 (Bucharest), Sector 5 had repeatedly refused to authorize their reconnection to the grid. This led to around 200 inhabitants from the Zăbrăuți area to violently protest against their situation, torching tires, blocking traffic in the area, and breaking the window of a
fire truck A fire engine or fire truck (also spelled firetruck) is a vehicle, usually a specially designed or modified truck, that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water t ...
, while calling for the electricity supply to be restored. However, only 20% of the inhabitants of the area had any papers proving ownership or rent over the said flats, with the rest being squatters. The electricity provider was criticized for not cutting the energy in summer, so that people could make plans for winter. Both the electricity provider and Bucharest 5th Sector Mayor,
Marian Vanghelie Daniel Marian Vanghelie (born 1968 in Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania) is a Romanian politician, the former mayor of the Sector 5 (Bucharest), 5th Sectors of Bucharest, Sector of Bucharest (2000–2016) and a former member of t ...
, were criticized by then-
Prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...
of Bucharest Mioara Mantale for concluding electricity supply contracts for those blocks, as they were built as temporary shelters for construction workers and were never finalized. Apart from electricity, they do not have a fresh water supply, sewage, or heating. Vanghelie said he would not make any concessions.
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...
also commented on the events: "I stand by my previous statement. Bucharest is not for everyone. Every one of us must pay ur bills" ().


Outcome

Realitatea TV was presenting a news broadcast about the riot at the same time with the planned show about the latest ranking of the richest Romanians made by the publication ''Capital'', at which Cristian Țânțăreanu and
Gigi Becali George "Gigi" Becali (; born 25 June 1958) is a Romanian businessman, writer, politician and former convict, mostly known for his ownership of the FCSB football club. Becali was a Member of the European Parliament between June 2009 and Decembe ...
were invited to speak about their wealth. Cristian Țânțăreanu said the ranking contained the 300 richest Romanians and there were about 300 people protesting, so why shouldn't every one of them help one of the poor people who were protesting. Gigi Becali said he would donate enough money to help all the protesting people, but he doesn't have time to make sure that the respective people would also go to work (clean their buildings, etc.), as Țânțăreanu suggested. At that time Becali didn't know how much money this would cost him; he was later informed it was about €400,000, which he paid. Becali was criticized for this, as it might be unfair for the ones who only through effort managed to pay the energy bills. Alex Savitescu, said "crime becomes not only understood, accepted, but rewarded". According to a poll made by students from SNSPA (The National School for Political and Administrative Studies) two days after the protests, if elections were to be held the following Sunday, 93% of people from Zăbrăuți would go to vote and 70% would vote for Gigi Becali as President, and 55.1% would vote for his party, the New Generation Party – Christian Democratic (PNG).Adevarul
Ferentarii îl lasă pe Vanghelie pentru Becali
At the meeting where people were thanking him, he said
Pe mine mă cheamă Becali. Cuvântul meu e literă de Evanghelie. Nu o să pot să fac toată țara asta, o să fac toată țara asta când o să devin președinte și o să mă doară inima de români
Ziarul de Iași: Becali le-a promis locuitorilor de Ferentari 400.000 de euro
(My name is Becali. My word is as good as the word of the Holy Scripture. I cannot do the same for everyone in this country now but I will do so when I become president and as president I'll feel the grief of the Romanian people).


See also

*
Ferentari Ferentari is a neighbourhood located in the 5th Sector of Bucharest, Romania. Etymology The word "Ferentari" comes from the Latin word "Ferentarius" meaning "soldier in the old pedestrian army". Area It is located in the South-South-West of ...
*
Romani people in Romania Romani people in Romania, locally and pejoratively referred to as the (), constitute the second largest ethnic minority in the country (the first being Hungarians). According to the 2021 census, their number was 569,477 people and 3.4% of the ...
*
1993 Hădăreni riots The 1993 Hădăreni riots (, ) were a series of riots in the village of Chețani, Hădăreni, Mureș County, Romania, involving Romanians and Hungarians on the one side against Romani people, Roma on the other side, ending with three (or four, acco ...


References


External links


Protests in Ferentari neighbourhoodResidents clash with police in poor Bucharest district after electricity cut off
Dzeno
Revolt of Roma in Bucharest
Dzeno {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferentari Riot Antiziganism in Romania Romani-related controversies 2006 riots 2006 in Romania Riots and civil disorder in Romania November 2006 in Romania